What kind of drivers did you install? I don't remember if there are NV drivers for Win2k8, since Win2k8 Server is not intended for multimedia. There is neither video nor audio drivers for it (if I remember correctly; we had really great trouble trying to execute OpenGL applications on Win2k3 Server machines long time ago). On some forums, guys claim that installing Vista drivers could succeed, but not always, so you have to try different versions.

A few days ago, there was the same problem with WinXP Embedded Edition. It didn't have even opengl32.dll. After copying necessary dlls, OpenGL application executed extremely slowly, since only software emulation (Microsoft GL 1.1 driver) was enabled. Installing drivers for regular XP, although OS claimed they were older that installed ones, everything got fixed.

I don't need multimedia per se, my goal is to render off-screen using PBuffers.

My server is at a web hosting company. To address my problem, the support people there installed a NVIDIA GeForce 7300 SE/7200GS a couple days ago. *After* they installed the driver software, the NVIDIA device appeared in device manager. There is now an NVIDIA Control Panel icon in Control Panel but it won't run from RDP, my only mode of access.

Are you trying to remotely access that server and execute OpenGL code?
Maybe that's the problem. I'm not sure about technology you are using, but I'm sure that OpenGL is not hardware-accelerated through remote desktop.
Also, I don't know how JOGL works, but opengl32.dll is required in any case (it is a "hook" to vendor's specific dlls), and it is certainly on the server since you can execute OpenGL code.

Are you trying to remotely access that server and execute OpenGL code?

My only interest in RDP is that it's the only way I can administer the server which is on a rack somewhere in another state and has no physical display. I found out by trial and error that my web application is only able to render OpenGL graphics when I have an open RDP session to the server, the RDP Window is not minimized, and I render to a visible Window. This is a lousy way to achieve my goal, which is to render off-screen to an image and include the image within web application content. Pbuffers are the perfect solution, work fine on my local box, but the extension is unavailable on the w2k8 web server.

I'm sure that OpenGL is not hardware-accelerated through remote desktop.

True, but it's actually fast enough for my purposes. My problem is that if I close the RDP window, my web site stops working!

Also, I don't know how JOGL works, but opengl32.dll is required in any case (it is a "hook" to vendor's specific dlls), and it is certainly on the server since you can execute OpenGL code.